Never say Never
by fangirl2821
Summary: When an injury plagues one of Firehouse 51's members, a career may be in jeopardy.


**Ooooof! **

"What the hell was that?" Severide asks himself. "Yeah, what was that?" Capp nods in agreement

Before long Severide hears the PASS alarm, of a fellow firefighter begin to go off in the distance.

"Damn it!" Severide curses to himself…

**EARLIER THAT DAY...**

"Candidate!" Severide yells. "Yes Lieutenant?" Mills answers, a bit wary of the Rescue Squad Lieutenant. "Just got word, you made Squad! You start in a few days" Severide announces to the now brimming Peter Mills. "That's amazing, thank you lieutenant!" Mills replies. "Hey, you earned it!" Severide says back. "Guess I'm not the only one that works my ass off in this house anymore!" Severide adds, as he turns to head for the common room. Severide enters into the common room to find the Truck team in their usual spots, and Capp in the fridge looking for something to eat, which is normal for him. Capp turns around to find his lieutenant standing watching him, and offers an embarrassed grin. "Hey Capp…" Severide starts. "You got a minute?" he asks. Capp offers a nod, grabs an apple from the bowl on the counter, and follows his lieutenant out onto the floor. "Capp, Mills made Squad, he'll be joining us in a couple days" Severide spits out, almost nervous to see Capp's reaction. Capp seems a little un-easy, but accepts the news pretty well. "If Hadley were still here, he'd flip out!" Capp remarks as he turns and heads back for the kitchen.

"Damn!" Severide curses to himself. "Now I have to find Casey… I bet he already knows… let's hope he does at least." Severide mutters before taking his leave in search of the other Firehouse 51 lieutenant.

Upon entering the bunkroom, Severide spies his fellow lieutenant in his quarters. "Hey Casey, you got a sec? Severide asks. "Uh sure, what do you need?" Casey replies. "I just wanted to let you know… Severide's voice trails off. "Sorry, I just wanted to let you know, Mills made Squad, he's joining us in a few days…" Severide says. "Wow, I didn't know, that's great for him!" Casey stammers, slightly annoyed.

AMBLULANCE 61, TRUCK 81, SQUAD 3, BATTALIAN 25…

"Duty calls!" Severide says as he rushes downstairs to join his Squad, with Casey not far behind. Casey runs for his gear and jumps into his shot-gun seat in the truck, Cruz already in the driver's seat ready to respond. Casey's radio crackles before he hears Chief on the end. "Casey, it's a structure fire, and it's bad out here." Chief says. Casey reaches for his radio and decides to warn Severide about the upcoming call. "Hey Severide!" Casey says. "What" Severide responds almost instantly "I just heard from the Chief, apparently it's a huge structure fire and it's pretty nasty, just thought you should know." Casey finishes. "Thanks for the warning Casey, I'll let the Squad know." Severide responds. As Truck arrives on scene, Casey realizes Chief wasn't messing around. In front of him, is what looks to be an abandoned hotel, whose top half is engulfed in flames. Seeing the scene in front of him, Casey reaches for his radio, and turns around about to radio Severide, but grateful to see Squad has just made it onto the scene. Figuring Severide has already seen the hotel, he returns to the Truck to dole out orders to his waiting team. Casey turns around to find Chief walking over to the Truck. "No one was here when we arrived, so we have no idea if anyone's inside" Chief admits. "I need a search of the bottom floors for victims, I'm going to send Squad in as back-up Chief says. "Okay" Casey replies. "Mills, Herrmann, Otis with me, Cruz and Mouch to the roof and be ready to vent." Casey says. "Hey Casey, Chief says he wants us with you" Severide starts, as he makes his way over to Casey and his team. "Okay, great." Casey says. "Mills! Go with Severide!" Casey orders. "Now we can have 2 teams." Casey grins to the now slightly annoyed Rescue Squad Lieutenant. "Fine!" Severide huffs. "Mills! Stay with us and try not to screw up!" Severide says as he turns to a slightly nervous Mills. "C'mon guys! Let's go!" Casey yells to his team. Casey enters first, and busting in the door, lets a huge plume of smoke out. "Mask up! Let's go!" Casey shouts to his team. "Sure looks abandoned to me" he says to himself. "Hmmm, that's odd…" Casey remarks to himself. "What's with all the stuff all over?" Otis asks. "Yeah really, no wonder the place went up!" Herrmann pipes up. "Looks like someone's been in here before" Casey adds.

"Then where are they?" Otis asks. "I never said they were in here recently" Casey challenges. "Lieutenant, where's Severide?" Herrmann asks. "He's over with Capp and Mills searching the other side of the building." Casey replies.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

"Damn! What was that? Severide wonders out loud, as he turns his back to look around.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! CRAAAACK!

"What th…" Mills starts before the floor gives way, and he falls through the floor, almost taking Capp with him. "Whoa! Capp starts, with a little surprise in his voice. "Mills, where's Mills?" Capp asks. Damn! Severide curses as whirls around and begins to hear a PASS alarm go off below. "Mills! Call out!" Severide yells. No response… "Capp! Get the ropes! I'm going down!" Radio for Casey, we're going to need some back-up." Severide says. "Casey! It's Capp; we have a bit of a situation… We need you over here!" Capp says. "What happened?" Casey starts… "Just hurry!" Capp fires back. "Hang on Mills, we're coming!" Severide says with a bit of urgency in his voice.

"Alright team, let's move!" Casey orders. "We need to get over to the other side of the building now!" Casey yells. "What's going on?" a curious Otis asks looking over at Mouch. "I'd tell you if I knew." Mouch replies. "Capp, where's Severide?" Casey asks as he and his team gets to the other side of the building. "Down there…" Capp points, and Casey makes a face when he sees the hole. "What happened here?" Casey demands. Before Capp can answer, Casey looks down the hole, and sees an unmoving figure and Severide deactivating his alarm. "Is that…?" Casey starts. "Capp! We're coming up; get Casey to help with the ropes!" Severide radios from the hole. "Just grab the ropes and pull when I say so!" Capp orders. "You heard him! Let's go team!" Casey fires back.

"Mills?" Severide questions, as he moves to turn off the still shrieking alarm. Severide notices that Mills' air is really low. "Damn!" Severide curses. "We need to get him out of here now!" Severide radios to Capp. "What happened?" Mills tries to ask… "Never mind that now, we need to get you out of here!" Severide says. "Now!" Severide orders Capp over the radio. "Ok guys, now!" Capp orders as he turns to Casey and his team. Who is still trying to figure out how Squad does this kind of stuff all the time. By this time, Mills is still really out of it, and has become unresponsive. "What happened to him?" Casey questions as his team pulls Mills up. "Severide, what happened to Mills?" Casey asks again. "The floor caved, and he fell, no one saw it coming." Severide responds. "Crap!" Casey starts, before reaching for his radio to update Chief on the situation at hand. "Let Shay and Dawson know, we're coming out with one." Casey says over the radio. "Ok, I'll have them ready" Chief responds. "It's pretty urgent, make sure Shay and Dawson know!" Casey adds. "Chief… It's Mills!" Casey spits out, to the now silent radio. "Look Chief, the floor caved in, Mills fell and is now unresponsive, Severide said his air was really low when he got to him, he's in bad shape." Casey desperately explains. "Shay, Dawson!" Chief starts as he heads over to the waiting ambulance crew. "Casey and the team are coming out with Mills, the floor caved, and he's in bad shape." Chief explains. "Be ready!" he orders. With that, Casey comes barreling out of the building, with Otis, Herrmann, and Capp half-dragging the now unconscious Mills outside, Severide not far behind. "Dawson, Shay get over here!" Casey yells. "How long was he down there?" Dawson asks. "Severide, how long was Mills in the hole?" Casey yells to the other Firehouse 51 lieutenant. "I don't know, maybe 35 minutes, I don't know how long his air was low either." Severide replies. "Ok thanks." Dawson replies, before rushing off with Mills and Shay to the hospital. "Hey Otis…" Dawson adds quickly. "Think you can drive an ambulance?" Dawson asks. "From what Severide said, I have a feeling we are going to need 2 sets of hands in the back." Dawson adds. "Sure." Otis says "At least I think I can drive one…" he adds under his breath.

"Look at you…" Shay taunts. "It's funny, how you have to save your boyfriend at all, and on top of that, your boyfriend is an EMT." Shay finishes. "Oh shut up!" Dawson fires back, slightly embarrassed. "I can tell by looking at him he's in bad shape, and I haven't even got him on the monitor yet." "I'm checking for breath sounds" Dawson says. "Damn! He's not breathing!" Dawson curses, what is going on with him?" She questions herself. "Having him unconscious is bad enough, now this!?" She yells. "I'm going to have to intubate him!" Dawson says. "Shay grab the intubation kit!" Dawson orders. "I'd rather not have him die on me." Dawson admits. "If I know Mills, he's a fighter; he won't give up until he knows he can." Dawson finishes. "There, done, Shay check for breath sounds" Dawson says. "We're all good." Shay answers. "Good!" Dawson breathes a heavy sigh of relief. "At least we can keep him alive now." She finishes, as she looks down at the lifeless-looking body of the candidate. "Ok, we're here!" Otis calls from the front. "I swear that was the longest ride of my life!" Dawson says, as Shay nods in agreement. Just as Dawson gets the doors open, she is swarmed by a team of doctors ready to take over. "What happened?" one of them asks. "He took a fall during a call, lost consciousness, and stopped breathing on the ride over I had to intubate." Dawson responds before the doctor rushes off to join the others as they begin to treat the injured firefighter. "I'm actually nervous about Mills' prognosis…" Dawson admits. "I know we have had our rough patches, but I really don't want to end up like poor Casey." She says. "You know, being so close, and not being able to do a thing." Dawson says under her breath. "You did do something." Shay counters. "You got him here alive; I think that defiantly counts as doing something." Shay says. "We should probably go inside and see if there are any updates." Dawson says, with a nervous in her voice. As Shay and Dawson enter the waiting room, they see the whole team already waiting. "What happened exactly?" Cruz asks. "The floor caved inside, and Mills went with it." Shay says. Before long, a doctor comes out to update the anxiously waiting team. "He's got a few cracked ribs, a fractured wrist and a bruised back, but other than that; he's going to be fine" She says. "We brought him back, he's conscious and alert now; you can go see him if you want." She informs them. "Shay and I will go in first" Dawson says. As they enter the dimly lit hospital room, it's hard not to notice the beat-up body of Mills. All he has now is a small oxygen tube in his nose. "You gave us a real scare on the ride over here!" Dawson teases. "Sorry" Mills offers weakly along with a weak smile. "I mean it; you scared me half to death." Dawson admits. Shay is trying not to chuckle in the background, but Dawson can see right through her. "I will give you this; if I didn't have you in the back of the rig with me, things could and probably would have been a lot worse." Dawson says. "Thanks." Shay says with a smile. "So when are you going to tell me what happened?" Mills asks weakly. "When you are back at the house, if you still want to hear it then, we'll tell you." Dawson responds. "Ok guys, visiting hours are over, and he's spending the night, so you have to leave." A nurse's voice says from behind them. Shay exits first, followed by Dawson who is stopped for one last second by Mills. "Gabby…" He says weakly. "Thank you." He finishes. Dawson exits with a smile.

**THE NEXT DAY…**

Severide pulls up to the hospital intent on visiting his newest Squad member. "I thought you supposed to be joining us tomorrow." He teases as he enters Mills' room. "Haha" Mills says back. "I guess I won't be joining you guys tomorrow, sorry lieutenant." Mills says. "Hey, you don't have to call me that yet since you're not on Squad yet." Severide says back. "Looks like I get to torment the candidate for a little while longer." Casey says from the door. "Not for much longer, he'll be mine to torment soon enough." Severide taunts. "Just promise me, you'll make him do some of the hard and dirty work for Squad" Casey says. "You actually think I would let him off easy?" Severide jokes back. "Just get better Mills; we need you back at the house!" Casey says. "Yeah, hurry up and get better!" Severide says. "Capp and I need someone to torment, haha!" He adds before exiting the room, Casey follows.

**1 WEEK LATER…**

"Alright Mills, 2 shifts back on truck should have gotten you back into the groove of things." Casey says. "You hear that candidate?" Severide asks. "That's Casey's way of saying that you're all mine now, let the real work begin!" Severide says. "Hey!" Casey argues in defense. "He does plenty of work on truck!" Casey says. "Work, on truck?" Severide jokes playfully. "That's almost funny Casey." Severide adds. Casey can only smile at that. Chief then comes in to inform everybody of the changes to come. "Mills is officially transferring from Truck to Squad as of today." Chief says. Everyone erupts into applause. "Nice job Mills." He adds with a firm pat on the back, before retreating back to his office.

**AMBLULANCE 61, TRUCK 81, SQUAD 3, BATTALIAN 25… Pin-in Accident**

"You ready Mills?" Severide asks. "It's your first call with Squad!" Severide says. "Grab your gear, and let's go!" Severide orders. With that, Mills grabs his gear and follows Severide to Squad's truck, taking Hadley's old spot inside. "Welcome aboard Mills!" Capp says. Squad arrives right after Truck to the accident site. By this time, Mills has realized he doesn't have his helmet. "Crap!" He says to himself. "Hey Candidate!" Casey yells, rounding in front of the truck. "Looks like you forgot something." He teases as he tosses the helmet to the now very relieved Mills. "Thanks lieutenant!" Mills yells over the commotion.


End file.
